Pope Francis has appealed to the government of Pakistan to take steps to ensure the safety of the country’s Christians and other minorities after a suicide bombing killed at least 70 people and injured more than 300 who were spending Easter Sunday in a public park. The Pope said that in the city of Lahore, “Easter was bloodied by a hideous attack, which massacred many innocent people, mostly families belonging to the Christian minority – especially women and children – who were in a public park joyfully celebrating Easter.” After reciting the Regina Caeli prayer with pilgrims in St Peter’s Square on Monday, Francis condemned the attack as a “cowardly and senseless crime”. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Taliban, said it carried out the bombing and specifically targeted Christians celebrating Easter. Pope Francis appealed to “the civil authorities and all community leaders in that nation to do everything possible to ensure the security and serenity of the population, particularly the most vulnerable religious minorities”. “Violence and homicidal hatred lead only to pain and destruction; respect and brotherhood are the only paths that lead to peace,” he said. Before leading the crowd in reciting the Hail Mary for the victims and their families, Pope Francis asked those in St Peter’s Square to pray that God “would stop the hand of the violent, who sow terror and death, and that in the world there may reign love, justice and reconciliation”. In his main address, the Pope said: “Life has vanquished death. Mercy and love have vanquished sin.”